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Ah I still need to watch Amadeus.
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Oct 2, 2022 01:08
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Crawl Given the current Hurricane situations, this did feel fresh and relatable (but hopefully no gator attacks happening). People driving back into a hurricane and not leaving? Definitely happens. So the setup worked. The premise of alligators killing everyone with the leads trapped in a flooding house was fun. And the fact that the alligators appear within the first 30 minutes was nice. But after a while the gator attacks began to feel a little ridiculous (gator up stairs and then through a window). Still it was fun. It’s under 90 minutes but I still feel it could have been shorter. Crawl follows this trend of many modern horror films where it spends a good 15 minutes introducing the leads and their personal drama in an attempt to make you care more about them. But this just feels slow when you want the horror. The Ring understood this decades ago and went for shock first, then background.
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Oct 2, 2022 01:15
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Licorice Pizza I found this to be a bit too long. It’s a beautiful looking film and the many of the shots are really impressive but the whole film meandered a bit too much for me. The Japanese restaurant stuff feels like it could have been dropped. Also definitely could have aged up characters a couple years and just avoided all the drama. Ending was really good though, and at least helped make the runtime worth it. Overall not bad, but I like other Anderson films better.
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Oct 3, 2022 01:26
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checkplease posted:Licorice Pizza I found this to be a bit too long. It’s a beautiful looking film and the many of the shots are really impressive but the whole film meandered a bit too much for me. The Japanese restaurant stuff feels like it could have been dropped. Also definitely could have aged up characters a couple years and just avoided all the drama. Ending was really good though, and at least helped make the runtime worth it. Overall not bad, but I like other Anderson films better. You can't age him up and still keep the commentary PTA was laying down about Hollywood and show the severe infantilization Alana's character, and by extension women in general, were subjected to.
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Oct 3, 2022 02:02
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That’s a good point. It’s definitely a film I’ll have to think and read more about. It was almost alien seeing Gary and his friends run all these businesses as kids. And to your point, one standout moment to me was the other 15/16 year old friends acting as salesman in the waterbed store while Alana stood around in a bikini as an advertisement. Ideally, she should have been the lead for sales.
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Oct 3, 2022 03:24
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The Lost Boys way more interesting than I would have thought. I'll give it to Joel, when he's working with materiel that suits his direction he can pull off a good movie. Simple things like using the wind effects to stand in for the actual vampire attacks, or associating the vampires with outsider cultures like bikers or Doors fans elevate it from being just a simple killer vampire movie. And unlike his batman work the jokes in this one almost all hit, the Frog Brothers accidentally becoming vampire killers is hilarious more so because how solid they end up being, all the weird quirks with the grandpa and especially the ending are absolutely hilarious. Really fun watch Fletch I neither love nor hate Chevy Chase, I think he's a funny dude but I'm never going out of my way to watch his films. If I'd known this was only half a Chase comedy, and that the other half was a pretty well put together noir I would've been on it way faster. Serious you replace Chase with Gene Hackman and cut the jokes and you could've had a real Night Moves style noir.
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Oct 6, 2022 19:30
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Train to Busan (2016) it was good, very good conceit, pretty well directed. But I’m feeling hosed up because I could have sworn it came out years before 2016, like a couple years after the big zombie media revival in the 2000s. Brain must have just filed it in with all of those. it’s pretty cookie cutter zombie movie stuff but setting it on a train was pretty inspired and there were some really good performances, especially ma dong-seok
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Oct 8, 2022 06:33
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Gaius Marius posted:You can't age him up and still keep the commentary PTA was laying down about Hollywood and show the severe infantilization Alana's character, and by extension women in general, were subjected to. I got the sense that Alana is lying to the kid about her age throughout the film. There's a gap, but probably only in the ballpark of 4/5 years so she's actually 20/21. Having her share a name with the 30 year old actress who played her probably muddled things for a lot of people. High Warlord Zog fucked around with this message at 09:05 on Oct 8, 2022 |
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Oct 8, 2022 09:03
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Cop Land HBO Max Stallone plays opposite of what you’d expect and instead is a introspective loner who does more listening than talking. The cast is loaded and nearly every single person got a ‘holy poo poo it’s what’s his face!’ out of me. Halfway through there’s a moment where I thought it was gonna be some typical ‘good guy eventually gets the girl’ momentum but it goes hard in a different direction and is very satisfying. The ending is a complete rush job though, complete with unnecessary voice over work. All said it’s a good movie with an incredible cast.
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Oct 9, 2022 02:27
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The Munsters : Rob Zombie directs three pretty good horror flicks, two Halloween remakes and then there's this - a direct-to-streaming remake of the 1960s tv series' origin story. the "jokes" as they are just don't land, the editing could have been way tighter (there's truck-sized pauses between lines like they made it for the MST3k crew on purpose) and i can't bring myself to finish it. not sure who it was made for, but the only saving grace is the guy who played the Night King in Game of Thrones doing his best Vincent Price impression as Dr. Wolfgang and - Hurley from LOST - Jorge Garcia as ... ugh.. Floop.
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Oct 9, 2022 04:48
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Halloween season continues with Midsommar (2019) which was kind of insubstantial unless you just want to watch Florence Pugh make sad faces for 2 1/2 hours. An entry in the outsiders enter a sinisterly cheerful village and get owned genre but I just ended up wanting to watch the wicker man again
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Oct 9, 2022 05:03
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Saw The Shining for the first time in 4k and holy poo poo. It was a beautiful movie on my CRT but it is absolutely unbelievable in a higher resolution. Gotta track down a film screening of it one day.
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Oct 9, 2022 16:27
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Just saw Touch of Evil and it's really good? It's a little nuts with Dutch angles, but I feel like they almost all work? The opening is breathtaking of course, but there are amazing pieces of camera work throughout. I audibly gasped on the camera dollyout when Quinlan is making the deal with Grandi. The ending with the bug is a bit slow and I'm not sure works as well as I'd like. Janet Leigh is amazing though, this movie is full of just some top notch performances. Sorta shocked too that there's a movie in the 50's actually showing the cops as corrupt fuckers doing their job, not even taking bribes or whatever. That corruption is the lifeblood that makes police work possible. It does softwalk it back with the kid 'confessing' and actually being guilty, which I didn't love.
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Oct 9, 2022 20:03
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Touch of Evil is indeed great. Great actors and cool to see all of the old cities as a lot is filled on locations. Which version did you watch? I think the kid being guilty works as reinforces the idea that the police don’t need to be corrupt and plant evidence to since crimes. They just have to investigate actually. It’s trusting in the actual process, though that had its own problems of course. Apparently Orson was not actually that fat yet and was in makeup and fat suit. He kills it again as always of course
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Oct 9, 2022 22:19
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checkplease posted:Touch of Evil is indeed great. Great actors and cool to see all of the old cities as a lot is filled on locations. Which version did you watch? I think the kid being guilty works as reinforces the idea that the police don’t need to be corrupt and plant evidence to since crimes. They just have to investigate actually. It’s trusting in the actual process, though that had its own problems of course. I'm not exactly sure, the one on criterion channel which is 1h35m. I think that's the original? Is the other version much different? I will say I viewed it as undermining the message, that he was right all along, and there's even commentary to that effect. It reinforces the notion that the cops never frame anyone who isn't guilty, which is reinforced by the dialogue at the end where they praise Quinlan's instincts.
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Oct 9, 2022 22:56
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Yeah I could see that read of Quinlan. That must be the Welles notes version where they added and edited the film to his notes after he was fired. That’s the one I watched though I’m curious to see the theatrical cut sometime.
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Oct 10, 2022 00:34
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High Warlord Zog posted:I got the sense that Alana is lying to the kid about her age throughout the film. There's a gap, but probably only in the ballpark of 4/5 years so she's actually 20/21. Having her share a name with the 30 year old actress who played her probably muddled things for a lot of people. That could be true, and the film takes place over a longer period than people think. Gary is at least 16 by the end. But the sentiment from that feels more like someone trying to minimize the problematic nature of the relationship then it does just accepting the movie for what it is. PTA's got a habit of showing very toxic misfit relationships and not holding it against the characters particularly harshly. Dirk Diggler and Amber Waves is not a good relationship, neither is Alma and DDL in Phantom Thread, or Hoffman and Phoenix in The Master. He's portraying what happens to certain characters that fall outside the Normal archetype. Two people like Gary and Alana would probably end up in a sort of psuedo relationship. To certain people I think seeing that kind of thing makes them feel bad Inside so they try and find mitigating circumstances, other people think any portrayal of something is an endorsement of it. Those people are loving idiots and need to be mocked until they stop having opinions at me.
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Oct 10, 2022 01:17
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Tonight was the first chilly night in my city, so I got a big fuzzy blanket and some snacks and watched House on Haunted Hill for the first time. Campy, silly, and really comforting. The organ trills and stings! The spoooooky skeleton! That said, the visual experience was pretty lacking even for the time period. I got the sense that they were operating off of a radio drama template, as the character movement between rooms felt pretty random and mostly designed to have big dramatic speeches with one another. Would not have lost much by listening to it on headphones. Famethrowa fucked around with this message at 14:54 on Oct 10, 2022 |
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Oct 10, 2022 14:52
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Recent watches: Tetsuo: The Iron Man - David Cronenberg's Eraserhead. 8/10 Man of the West - Not every old pre-Spaghetti Western is boring or racist, quite a lot of the classic ones are classic for a reason! This one was one of those about a reformed man who runs into his old gang and has to deal with his violent past, a common enough plot but well executed outside of the romantic subplot. I'll have to check out more Anthony Mann movies at some point. 7/10 The Munsters - My barometer for this was my dad. He's a Rob Zombie fan and a Munsters fan, so clearly he's the target audience. We turned it off at the 44 minute mark. It's got the same corny tone as the original, but in that show the Munsters were contrasted against their normal, working class community. Here, everyone is a Spirit Halloween rear end in a top hat. And the guy playing Herman lacks the natural charm of Fred Gwynne. 2/10 Bullet Train - Quite enjoyed this silly action film in the vein of one of the better Robert Rodriguez films. The actual fight scenes are mediocre and some of the stuff that happens to the train ie hitting and derailing another train at full speed and only taking cosmetic damage was a little too unrealistic, even for the level this film was already operating at. 6/10 Cyberpunk: Edgerunners - Probably the best video game tie-in I've ever seen, not that that's saying much. A bit cliched and I think the game is better at writing characters but hey it's anime that's not completely embarrassing, let's just marvel at that. 7/10 Dahmer - Overstays it's welcome, kind of overdramatizes poo poo when it didn't need to (no, Dahmer did not try to feed his neighbor a meat sandwich), etc. Really hits you over the head with the "justice system bad and racist" stuff when the actual events are more than enough to get that across. Kind of reminds me of the Chernobyl miniseries in that way, the real stuff is way better than the poo poo they made up. Also not gorey enough, I want to see sicko poo poo when I watch a Dahmer show. 6.5/10 The Parallax View - I love the mood of this, the dark cinematography and the paranoid, MKULTRA plotline. Some of the Warren Beatty as an action star kind of thing undermines the realism, you know, you don't see Kevin Costner getting into car chases in the superior JFK. Best scene is the brainwashing sequence, of course. Have you ever noticed how mass shootings have increased ever since the Thor movies started coming out? 7/10 As Tears Go By - oh great, now even wong kar-wai is pushing incest plots -_- 6/10
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Oct 10, 2022 23:54
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Thirst (2009) does not disappoint. Park Chan Wook the goat makes a modern vampire flick at turns extremely uncomfortable and hilarious but always gorgeous. A perfect Halloween flick
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Oct 11, 2022 04:28
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Bunch of 80s horror movies on criterion channel which led me to finally watch The Keep (1983) which is the weakest Mann I’ve seen but still a lot of fun. Great 80s effects and lots of dead nazis, tangerine dream on the soundtrack, there’s a lot to like in this one.
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Oct 12, 2022 04:16
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Mr. and Mrs. Smith, the 2000s remake with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Exactly as meh as I expected it to be, not even sure it makes good background noise. Kinda a jumble of a movie, and True Lies was a better film about a failing marriage restored via gunplay anyways. Wish I was rewatching that instead.
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Oct 12, 2022 05:34
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Catching up on my Guillermo del toro with Cronos (1993). Not the most tightly plotted film but I did enjoy the gross goopy effects. Some real uncomfortable moments lol. Not having them talk is one of the best ways to handle child actors.
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Oct 13, 2022 04:02
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Frances Ha an entire film about people who unironically use the term "Adulting". Atrocious The Hourglass Sanatorium A man attempts to visit his dead father. And ends up in a labyrinth of his own memories. An examination of childhood and the guilt of not connecting to your parents or helping them out. Of Antisemitism and greed, and a condemnation of the government of Poland. A movie that captures the feel of dreams better than any overly calculated and cold movie like Inception ever could. The mix of wonderment and the macabre tinges even the most wondrous childhood remembrances with subtle guilt and sadness. I'm reading The Master and Margarita currently, and that novel reminds me a lot of this movie. Highly recommended if you haven't seen it.
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Oct 13, 2022 22:39
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Suspiria (2018). Big departure from the original but still good, not sure what to make of the ending. The whole movie is like beware of these systems and getting trapped in them but then the ending is like it’s okay you can just co-opt them? This is also maybe the latest film I’ve seen use a split diopter shot. I liked the dancing too there should have been more of it
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Oct 14, 2022 05:41
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Jenny Agutter posted:Suspiria (2018). Big departure from the original but still good, not sure what to make of the ending. The whole movie is like beware of these systems and getting trapped in them but then the ending is like it’s okay you can just co-opt them? This is also maybe the latest film I’ve seen use a split diopter shot. I liked the dancing too there should have been more of it Having three Tilda Swintons in the same shot was an amusing stunt but yeah, I felt like what they were trying to say about getting caught in a cult of personality kind of missed. It was fun to see Jessica Harper again, too.
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Oct 14, 2022 05:57
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Iron Sky the Coming Race:  I wish I'd seen the entire movie, I think I needed more context to process Hitler riding a Trex on the moon to get the holy grail back.
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Oct 14, 2022 08:01
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Turbinosamente posted:Mr. and Mrs. Smith, the 2000s remake with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Exactly as meh as I expected it to be, not even sure it makes good background noise. Kinda a jumble of a movie, and True Lies was a better film about a failing marriage restored via gunplay anyways. Wish I was rewatching that instead. War of the Roses is another great thriller/marriage in crisis comedy. Despite the presence of guns and grenades the big set piece where the Pitt and Jolie try to gently caress each other up while loving up their house doesn’t hold a candle to what Danny Devito does with Kathleen Turner, Michael Douglas and their tacky mansion.
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Oct 14, 2022 09:30
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High Warlord Zog posted:War of the Roses is another great thriller/marriage in crisis comedy. Despite the presence of guns and grenades the big set piece where the Pitt and Jolie try to gently caress each other up while loving up their house doesn’t hold a candle to what Danny Devito does with Kathleen Turner, Michael Douglas and their tacky mansion. Duly noted. Mr and Mrs Smith definetly felt it was lacking something besides the by the numbers action set pieces. It sounds dumb to say but there's no chemistry between the leads, I did not believe they were ever in love to start with. Maybe Jolie played it too cool? Then again she was stuck being the antagonist while Pitt was reacting to her attempts to kill him, she comes off as the bigger rear end in a top hat because of it.
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Oct 14, 2022 15:34
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Manhattan Mélodrame Clicked on it expecting a slightly dramatic romance like The Thin Man or any other Powell Loy adventure. Instead I get a ferry disaster leaving two boys orphaned and one man without a son, and then Trotsky causing a riot that tramples that father to death all in the first ten minutes. The rest is both a cute love triangle between the two adopted brothers and a law drama about government corruption.
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Oct 15, 2022 03:53
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Dont Look Back - After seeing the film I read Ebert's contemporary review of it and I mostly agree with his take that the film is less a portrayal of media incompetence and more a reveal that Dylan isn't quite as deep as his lyrics suggest. Dylan's stance of "I refuse your labels and will dismiss the philosophy of my work" has aged poorly now that it's the common tactic used by the right.
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Oct 15, 2022 05:17
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The Prisoner of Zenda watched it because the Pale Fire connection, wildly surprised. It was a really fun little swashbuckling political thriller and Doug Jr. Absolutely kills it as Henzault. Dude is such a prick every second he's on screen. Watching the movie also makes the scene with Botkin trying to get his papers from the Princess way funnier as an inversion of this movies ending. Good poo poo all around
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Oct 16, 2022 04:27
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The head exploding from Scanners feels like one of the earliest internet memes, so I'm not sure how I avoided seeing the movie for so long. Unfortunately that scene is pretty early in the movie, and there just isn't that much else going on. It very much feels like a movie where there is a bunch of interesting backstory and detail left on the cutting room floor, while a lot of dull and overly long scenes are left in.
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Oct 16, 2022 07:30
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Prince of Darkness was really good. It’s such a weird movie that’s part religious horror and part sci fi. There’s a liquid Saran, alien Jesus, super creepy homeless and future people trying to influence the past. Plus returning actors from Big Trouble. The whole thing is a cautionary tale of establishing and following safety protocols in your experiments. What also struck me is that the conjuring universe version of this would have had the priest dramatically shouting Christ and Bible passages at all the possessed. Here the priest is mostly ineffective and hides for like most of the last 30 mins. I can’t think of any other devil movies like this one.
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Oct 16, 2022 09:06
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The Black Cat - What kind of a man is afraid of cats, I mean honestly? 6/10 The Red Shoes - Well made movie, but not for me, not at this length and not with the 20 minutes of ballet in the middle. When the drama finally kicks in it started to get me more, but that's quite a ways into the thing. The dancer leaping to her death (or being forced to jump by haunted shoes reminds a lot of the ending of Vertigo, in that it's the only way the story could have ended but it's still really corny how the character just sort of trips and falls. Like I've heard people laugh at the end of that movie and I could see them laugh at the end of this. 7/10
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Oct 16, 2022 09:17
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Tape The reminds me a lot of Hard Eight, not bad but you can really feel an amateur director with a vision coming up hard against his own lack of actual experience. Hawk's character is just too much, I got my share of fuckup friends he reminds me of, but he's just a little too over the top. They all are kind of. I much prefer him doing the same real time conceit with a romantic subplot instead like in Before Sunset
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Oct 17, 2022 03:18
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Rainbow (2022) As an adaptation of The Wizard of Oz, it was original enough and never boring. As a stand-alone story, I'm not sure it was all that compelling. Some interesting set design.
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Oct 17, 2022 03:56
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Gaius Marius posted:Frances Ha an entire film about people who unironically use the term "Adulting". Atrocious I hear you but I very much read that as a criticism of the system rather than an endorsement of the New Yorker class. I guess it helps that I'm reading Frances as striving but never achieving, essentially required for her rich friends to feel at her level, before taking advantage of their connections to rocket themselves forward, leaving her behind. She uses it because those with power do. Certified Copy: What an amazing film. At one point I asked well are they or aren't they (not quite like that) and realized the movie had already given us the answer that it doesn't matter, and that it works as a piece of art regardless. I've heard from my partner that if I loved this, which I do, that I absolutely need to check out the Koker trilogy, so expect that potentially.
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Oct 17, 2022 08:23
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Carillon posted:Certified Copy: What an amazing film. At one point I asked well are they or aren't they (not quite like that) and realized the movie had already given us the answer that it doesn't matter, and that it works as a piece of art regardless. I've heard from my partner that if I loved this, which I do, that I absolutely need to check out the Koker trilogy, so expect that potentially. Certified Copy was great and a real surprise for me, what a nice and intersting experience all around. I haven't seen any Koker films but also had a similar recommendation after watching Certified Copy. I've got Taste of Cherry in my queue to watch which I think he's also unnoficially grouped with that trilogy too.
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Oct 17, 2022 23:20
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Carillon posted:the Koker trilogy
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Oct 17, 2022 23:44
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